So yesterday M and I went to Nouman Ali Khan’s lecture in Birmingham. It was in the evening and it lasted for 3 hrs ish. We never ever ever send Zayan to childminder after 8 pm — ok we did do once because of work — but never with this childminder and never because of things other than work.

Usually I would be reluctant — or guilty– to leave Zayan esp on a weekend night but I figured this is for kebaikan and insyaAllah more good things will come from it. And also NAK kali ahhhh *groupie alert*

We ended up being bit late and we came in to him talking about the beginning of Surah Al Kahf. Now I’ll tell you something — I know its sunnah to read surah Al Kahf on a friday. And I’ve tried reading it but the translation — I just didnt get it. I knew it was about some men who slept in a cave for years and years and years and they were pious. But I just didnt get it.

Ok if I had looked further into detail ablut it somewhere (google), I probably would have understood it better and the significance of it. But anyway, in that 3 hour, I got it and gained more insight and lessons learnt from the 30 or so verse beginning of the surah.

Sigh, if only I can always be a student of his. (Apakan, videos nya ada online pun. Aku saja ‘nada time’….)

Think going to the NAK has come in good time. Sometimes you just need that reminder and that perhimpunan with other muslims to be closer to the religion. And that motivation to do
more.

What I love about this story is that it’s a story of regular people like you and me. They’re not prophets or companions of the prophet Muhammad s.a.w – they were regular joes who believed the religion has gone astray and that their society are changing but they refuse to follow the crowd. And the miracles that happened to them – you would think happen to Prophets saja. But no, if we are sincere in finding/asking guidance, insyaAllah Allah will make it easy for you.

The dua by the men (see below) asked for mercy and for the shape of their reality to change, somehow, someway and it did.

And apa yang paling menyucukkan, sakit parah pasal padas, sobering thought berabis, is that they don’t want to have other deities than Allah, to have other ‘ilah’. And in this occasion, we assume the other deities to be idols.

Sekali nya si NAK, the idols are false gods of their time, but what about ours? What are the things that makes us obsessed with it? That makes our heart feel empty if we dont have it. That makes us pray for 5 minutes and then spend hours doing and giving our time/effort/emotions to the ‘ilah’ of our times.

Ohhh padas sungguh padas. IG/whatsapp/fb – how many wasted time do I put on it.
And sedangkan baca qur’an ‘nada time’.